


Doesn't Change a Thing

by spacekinney



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Strikeforce (Marvel Comic)
Genre: Gen, vridai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22232530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacekinney/pseuds/spacekinney
Summary: Knowledge of the vridai is a poison in itself, says Blade. Honestly, Bucky can say that about quite a few people he's met.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Kobik
Kudos: 5





	Doesn't Change a Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Strikeforce #5 made me feel things.

Monica was in trouble.

This was _very_ bad. One minute, their “team” had been chasing down shapeshifting fairies. And now—after some _thing_ had started terrorizing Monica—they were running around a hospital, hunting a literal ghost. Just that fact alone had made it a bad situation, but now, with a distress signal coming from Monica’s location?

Monica, the smartest of all of them?

Yeah, this was a bad time.

Bucky could see lights flashing from a room down the hallway, and he ran in at the same time as Jess. Within a second, he’d surveyed the room, and what—or who, rather—he saw opened up a pit of despair in his insides. “ _Karla?_ ”

Karla snapped her head towards him, letting Monica drop to the floor. Jess was immediately at her side. A sinister grin drew onto Karla’s face as she slowly walked towards him. “Barnes! I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

“Well, it’s not like I was trying to schedule plans with you.”

“Ha!” Karla rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, the feeling’s mutual.”

“You _know_ this woman?” Angela asked.

Without taking his eyes from Karla, Bucky nodded. “Yeah. We were on a team together a while back. She only sold me out, what, twice?”

“Three times, by my count.”

Bucky snorted. “Yeah. Fun times. I don’t know what she’s doing working with the vrid—”

“Dammit, Barnes! Don’t you fucking say their name,” Blade snapped. “She doesn’t need to know any of that.”

Blade was right, of course. But Karla seemed unaffected. “Blade’s half correct. I really don’t need you to tell me what you’re doing. I have an accomplice to help with that—one you may be familiar with.”

As Bucky frowned, Karla stepped to the side, revealing the smaller frame behind her. As soon as he made eye contact with Karla’s accomplice, Bucky felt the wind knocked out of him. He whispered, softly. “Kobik.”

“Bucky? Is that you?”

She’d grown since the last time he’d seen her. Kobik moved towards him, and Bucky nodded and did the same. “Yeah. It’s me, Kobik.” God, she—she was here. She remembered him!

When they were close enough, Bucky dropped to his knees and took Kobik into a hug. She slipped between his arms like she always had, and Bucky felt that maybe, _maybe_ this vridai shit was worth it. If he had Kobik back…

“Why didn’t you look for me?”

…and there it was. Bucky pulled away from Kobik to hold her by the shoulders and look into her baby blue eyes. She looked like she was about to cry. “I did. I promise. I’ve been looking for you every day since I last saw you.” And it was the truth. He kept tabs on all of them—Eli, RJ, Nadia, Ying, those two kids he’d met however many Julys ago—and yeah, maybe RJ never wanted to see him again, and maybe everyone else was doing just fine, but if there came a moment when they weren’t, Bucky would be there. Kobik, being the cosmic cube, had just never showed up.

But Kobik shook her head. “But you’re smart! You should’ve found me! I think you just didn’t want to play with me.”

“No! No, of course I did!” Jess made a face at Monica, who just shrugged. “I promise.”

But Kobik began to cry, and stepped away from Bucky. “At least Ms. Moon wants to play with me!”

Bucky was gutted, but that statement threw him. Karla had _never_ wanted to spend time with Kobik. He’d believe that she’d used Kobik for her power alone, but…playing with her?

Bucky kept his face somber and stood up. “Kobik, I’m sorry,” he began. “I should’ve looked harder. I do want to play. See? I even brought all my friends so they can play with you too.” He should’ve realized earlier. Why would she have grown? Why wouldn’t he have been notified that she was back? Fuck. “C’mon. You wanna meet them?” He hated this magical shit. Where the hell were Daimon and Kaplan?

Vridai-Kobik sniffled and nodded. She walked back towards him and took his hand. Gently, he led her towards Angela. “This is my friend Angela. She’s Thor and Loki’s sister.”

“Ohh! I love your outfit!” vridai-Kobik exclaimed.

Angela kneeled down and smiled at her. “Hello, little one.”

 _Fuck_.

God, _shit_. Of all the terrible things he’d done—

He had to, of course. But, even knowing what he knew, he didn’t _want_ to. He _really_ didn’t want to.

In one swift move, Bucky grabbed his gun with his free hand and shot vridai-Kobik in the head before aiming at Karla. He heard Jess yelp. He shoved all of that into a corner of his mind to deal with later. Or not. “What are you doing with the cosmic cube?” he demanded.

Karla shook her head. “Tsk, tsk. Took you long enough. You really thought it was that little psycho, didn’t you? And anyways, I’m just having a little fun.”

As if on command, the undead bodies on the beds behind her sat up, and a horde of vridai broke through the windows, flying towards his team. Bucky gave one last glance at the limp body of the creature dangling by his hand before throwing it into the fray, taking out two more vridai with the weight of its body. Then, he grabbed a gun with his now-empty hand.

Time to get to work.

**Author's Note:**

> As you can probably tell, I'm still unsatisfied by the ending of Thunderbolts / Secret Empire (3 years later!) and thought of this while reading the latest issue of Strikeforce. I also wrote this while somewhat carsick, so I hope it makes sense :)


End file.
